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Optimism


andrew e

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I wouldn't mind one of those old barges, but for £700 I'd want it to be the mintiest shineiest example with a years ticket.That is a shabby scabby cat with a national lottery chance of passing another MOT.Cant blame him for trying though - there are some mugs about! :wink:

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Hell, that's optimistic - as most sellers of junker Jags are. I'd be wanting an X300 with non-perforated rear arches for that money.That said, a fella I work with has a minty-mint (only a little rust on the rear bumper chrome letting it down) M-plate XJ40 3.2S, and that's a lovely thing to see, unlike this one.

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thing is, it may be overpriced for a crispy jag, but would you really feel so hard-done-by. Bit of haggling and you're down to £600, that's what two months payments on a new Mondeo for which you have already laid several large as a down-payment. £600 to travel in total comfort and quietness at high speed is pretty cheap. I bet two first class train tickets london-edinburgh cost more than that. Run it till it breaks down, sell in bits, still not goig to be out of pocket, even if cheaper jags do exist. All relative really.

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I used to lift share with a guy who had a F plate 2.9 sov. In many many shades of green (and wing tops poorly rattlecanned by me :oops: )It had mad electrics, every warning the computer could think of, comedy door handles that might let you in if they felt like it, a crumbly boot lid and soggy carpets - but to my knowlege it only ever let him down once in about 5 years when the power steering pump went awol.So utter shite? :yes, Unreliable? :no

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One of my new years resolutions is to own a shitey old Jag this year, I had a brief look last year, but only managed to see a 500 quid rusty snotter as above.Driving it reminded me kind of like a lage comfy mini. It was truly shite, clunky and a bit dissapointing, but i liked it anyway. A dodgy engine clunk put me off however.:)

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The 2.9 ones are a bit pointless IMO, I bought one for about £700 a couple of years back, it was an OK car, not mint but fairly smart condition but I was a bit disappointed with it...I think I just bought it cos I fancied a Jag, but the whole point of a Jag is to waft about in comfort/luxury/whatever so buying a mega pov-spec one is a but silly really. Mine was an F reg (IIRC) and it was a manual (I prefer autos on big luxo-barges but that might just be me), was met grey (a bit of a rubbish colour IMO) and had horrible fabric seats. As if that wasn't bad enogh te owner before me had boshed a set of XJS alloys on (the horrible early 80's ones) and they looked shite.I'd definitely buy another XJ40 but I'd be a lot more choosy next time, leather/auto/nice colur FTW etc. A friend of mine had a 3.2 in metallic red with beige leather which was a lovely thing, he replaced it with a nice new X300 which is also now on my hit list as they're pretty cheap these days. In fact my dad was planning to have that one off him but he traded it in for a new Merc E Class Diesel without even mentioning he was getting rid of it... idiot.

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3.6 or 4-litre XJ40 manual can't be a bad crate, also bump-start-ability must be useful at the shite level. I'd still like an X300 with non-perforated rear arches though, equal-best-looking XJ IMHO (with the S3).Sounds like your mate had a basically sound one Tontops, something like that would bankrupt me fixing everything wrong as it would bug the hell out of me - which is why I'm probably not compatible with an old Jag really. Never have got the hang of the "run till something major goes then throw it away" method of bangernomics, which is why I've spent a lot on the 405s...

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I don't think it would have been possible to fix all the problems with a jag of that era! He eventually replaced the door handles one by one, but all the electronic messages changed on a minute by minute basis.For example, sometimes it would give ice warnings in a heat wave, warn of excesive oil temperature 2 minutes after the engine started on a frosty morning, countless bulb blown warnings - regardless of whether the lights were working or not.In spite of all this it was a very pleasant way to be wafted to work, full of grubby overalled 20 somethings.Like a lovable old grandparent with a touch of the altzheimers really, you just had to make allowances.I must stop thinking about old jags! Although pertol is only about 85p a litre these days.... Hmmmm :wink:

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I've looked at loads of XJ40s over the years and with the exception of one a friends mother had (An early D plate 3.6 manual pre-production job) they've all been utter shite. Too shite to consider.X300s, on the other hand, I keep being offered pretty nice ones for not much money. Last one I was offered was a '95 3.2 in Westminster blue, big miles with FSH, 'Council' private plate on it (as issued by the NI DVLA) 12 months MOT and tax for £800. I would have bought it but a quick scout around turned up an exhaust that needed replacing soon and impending sill doom. Drove really well and everything worked - even the AC.

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